


I'm a Vegetarian Vampire. I Guess.

by Book_lyfe



Series: 30 Different Writing Prompts [23]
Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: F/F, Kidnapped, M/M, Michael hates being a vamp, Small distractions of violence, Vampire AU, blood sucking, flash backs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-31 00:58:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17839373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Book_lyfe/pseuds/Book_lyfe
Summary: Michael and his moms have been vampires for nearly two hundred years. Michael has never liked drinking from humans, and he thought his parents agreed with him. All that changed when his moms bring home three teenagers, and ties them up the basement for them to feed on.





	I'm a Vegetarian Vampire. I Guess.

Michael is sitting in his room, listening to Bob Marley on tape when he hears his mothers come inside the house from the sound of the front door slamming shut downstairs. Michael knows that his moms had just been out hunting, so there’s a good chance that they brought him home an animal, maybe a deer, to eat for dinner.

The brunet rolls off of his bed, hits pause on the tape player and makes his way downstairs. He finds his nanay, Rosamie sitting at the kitchen counter. 

“Oh, Michael! We brought home a special treat for you. Your mother is downstairs getting it ready,” Rosamie, states, smiling at her son.

“What? Did you bring me a mountain lion?” Michael jokes, knowing full well that mountain lions don’t even live in New Jersey. 

Rosamie smiles again brightly, “You’ll see Mikey!”

At that moment, Michael’s mom, Jenny, comes up the stairs with a smile on her face. “Come look, Mikey! Your Nanay and I decided to let you have first pick!” She says excitedly. 

Michael raises an eyebrow quizzically. “First pick on what?”

Instead of answering, his parents just giggle between themselves. They both grab a hold of one of his arms and start to drag him down the stairs.

“Close your eyes!” His Nanay exclaims, “I don’t want you ruining the surprise.”

Michael rolls his eyes, letting out a small chuckle at his parents' excitement, and closes his eyes.

The family of three of three make it to the basement, walking into the room all the way in the back. Michael’s moms let go of his arms, step back, and then together they say, “Alright! Open your eyes!”

Michael opens his eyes slowly, and his smile slips from his face the moment he sees his  _ surprise.  _ In Front of Michael lay three kids, all around seventeen years of age. They are all passed out, or more accurately, knocked out and chained to the wall, faces covered in dirt with streaks of blood on their arms and faces. There are three people, one boy, and two girls. The boy has slightly curly brown hair, pimples and freckles dotting his face. He’s tall and lanky and wears a striped shirt and a pair of washed out blue jeans. The shorter of the two girls has black, shoulder-length hair. She is wearing a green dress with white leggings and gives off the vibe of someone who knew exactly what they liked and wanted. The other girl was as pale as most vampires are, and, unlike Michael and his Nanay, has long blond hair. Her yellow cardigan is ripped in a few places. Which, was most likely the work of his parents. A horrified chill sinks over him.

“So? What do you think?” Michael’s mom asks, moving to stand next to the blond girl. “We thought it would be useful to have our own personal supply of blood. Humans can generate more blood as long as we don’t over drink. We found these three in the woods, messing around together.”

“Mom! Nanay! This is horrible! We can’t just  _ kidnap  _ three teenagers to constantly drink from! Why can’t we just hunt animals, and not harm humans?” Michael shrieks, finally shaken from his horrified state.

He watches as the smiles on his parents' faces fade away, replaced with matching frowns.

“Mikey, we tried that, but animal blood just isn’t as sweet as human blood. We don’t really understand how you can deal with only drinking from animals.” His Nanay’s frown deepens, confusion etched into her body language.

“For many reasons, actually. First of all, we were human once, so it just feels completely wrong! Secondly, killing humans is like murder, and killing animals is more just like hunting. Also, if we kidnap people, others will want to look for them! What if we get found?”

“You know that won’t matter,” Jenny says, ignoring her sons first two points. “Humans will just try to shoot us. They don’t even think we’re real, so they won’t be prepared, or even know how to kill us!”

Michael sighs, shaking his head. “Fine, whatever, do what you want.  _ I’m  _ going to find a deer to eat.” The brunet turns on his heel and stomps all the way upstairs and out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

Michael starts running through the woods, reeling at the fact that his parents don’t even care about the human race anymore. He remembers when they were all first turned, and his parents couldn’t bring themselves to drink directly from a human. It wasn’t until much later, after they’d been vampires for five years, his parents gave in to the temptation.

Michael can still remember the day his family was turned.

_ The year was 1867, and Michael was visiting his parents over the summer. He was seventeen years old and heading off to college the following fall. Now, because his parents were both women, they had to pretend that his Nanay was really his aunt. The three had been heading to a show at the local theater when a group of five people came upon them and attacked them ruthlessly. _

_ They were dragged, kicking and screaming, sounds muffled by the attackers, into an alleyway. Michael was held by one of the guys, and his moms were held down by two other guys, letting the ladies, to Michael’s surprise, bare their fangs, sinking them deep into his parents' flesh. One of them started drinking from his mother’s neck, and the other drank from his Nanay’s forearm, silencing his moms as their eyes glaze over. He stared, wide-eyed, as the vampires then tore at their own skin, and let their blood fall into his dazed parents' mouths. The male vampires finally let go of his parents, leaving them unconscious, as the smaller guy made his way over to Michael to do the same as the women had done to his parents. It was impossible to fight, there was nothing he could possibly do. _

_ Later that night, Michael woke up, blinking his eyes multiple times as he adjusted to the fact that he could see perfectly well in the pitch black darkness. He slowly sat up, noting the fact that he was on a small twin-sized bed. Looking around the room, he can’t pick out anything familiar. He also noticed that he should be freaking out at the moment, but for some reason, He felt completely calm. Which, in all honesty, should also scare him. _

_ Michael slid off the bed, looking around a bit, and walks towards the door on the other side of the room. He tries the handle, noticing it was unlocked, and opens the door. As soon as he steps out into the hallway, the smell of something rich reaches his nose, and all he wants to do is taste it. He doesn’t even know what  _ it  _ is, although, for some reason, it also smells a bit like blood, sharp and metallic. Why does  _ blood  _ smell good to him? Following his nose, he walks towards the end of the hall, and down the unfamiliar staircase. He turns right when he gets to the bottom of the stairs, and pushes a door open to find his parents sitting at a kitchen table, talking to three others, one man and two women, all of which had a glass of what seemed to be wine.  _

_ “Mom? Um, where are we?” Michael asks. _

_ “Oh! Mikey!” Jenny says, smiling a bit, “This is Julia, Hannah, and Jackson, They’re the ones that brought us here.” _

_ “Hello Michael,” Jackson says, nodding at him, “Are you hungry? We have some food for you.” _

_ “Uhm, yeah, a bit.” _

_ Jackson nods, and gets up, heading over to the kitchen’s icebox. He grabs a glass from a cupboard and a jug of the dark red liquid that looks like wine, but upon looking closer, it seems a bit too thick. Jackson pours some of the red drink into the glass and passes it over to Michael. _

_ “Drink, you’ll feel great afterward.” _

_ Taking a small sniff of the drink, he’s once again hit with the rich smell he heads noticed earlier. Michael tentatively takes a sip, and he instantly can taste the sweetness of whatever it is he’s drinking. _

_ “What is this?” Michael asks once the drink is half gone. _

_ “Blood, of course. It is after all the best thing for a vampire to drink,” Julia, the petite blond girl, responds. _

_ Michael nearly chokes on his drink. “Blood? Vampire? What the hell?” _

_ “I guess we probably should explain a bit more,” Julia laughs, leaning back in her chair. _

_ “Yeah, that would definitely be best,” Michael murmurs, dread filling his gut and eying his glass. _

And so, Julia, Jackson, and Hannah did their best to explain all that they could. Michael remembers the story almost as if he was told it yesterday. The three had told him, and apparently his mothers while he was asleep, about how they needed to have a few more vampires around. Their numbers were dwindling, and having just three vampires left in their clan did not benefit them.

From then on, Michael and his mothers lived with the older vampires. For the first five years they would not drink human blood, so while Julia, Jackson, and Hannah would go out for fresh blood from local humans, Michael and his parents would hunt down animals.

Eventually, Jenny and Rosamie gave in to the temptation, and finally red on human blood. Of course, they didn’t always drink human blood, drinking from too many humans could raise way to much suspicion, so they still did hunt animals with Michael. Human blood was saved for rarer occasions when they could no longer curb their desires for the sweeter blood.

Michael despises that they drink from humans, but actually kidnapping one, and planning on continuously drinking blood from a human, letting them regain that blood, and repeating the process all over again is crossing a line. It's cruel.

\-------------------------------

Later that night, when Michael has finally made his way home, he finds that his parents are deep asleep. Michael knows that his moms wouldn’t want him to talk to their prisoners, as Michael has decided to call them. But at the moment he doesn’t care. So, instead of making his way upstairs to his room, he turns and walks straight for the basement stairs. 

Once he’s inside the back room, he quietly shuts the door and quickly notices that the three teenagers are all awake, huddled together with the small black haired girl in the middle.

“Um, hi? I’m Michael?” Michael says, standing awkwardly by the door. Instead of getting an answer, he hears the blond girl let out a few choked sobs. Michael mentally slaps himself, of course, they don’t want to talk to him! What the hell was he thinking? They’re literally meals for his parents. “Um,” He starts again, not completely sure what exactly he’s going to say. “I’m not gonna like, drink your blood or anything. I just, I’m not okay with this at all. I think my moms are kinda insane for doing this.”

The black haired girl in the middle lets out a nervous laugh. “Su-sure you’re no-not! I’m still dizzy fr-from your mom dri-drinking from me!” She stutters around her silent tears.

“Look, I really am sorry about it. But I don’t think I can do anything about it! They won’t kill you, they’re just gonna use you for your blood. And I would let you escape, but then they  _ would  _ kill you. And me for that matter.” Michael sighs, leaning against the door and sliding down it to sit on the floor, knees pulled to his chest.

“You’re not gonna snack on us too?” The boy asks, confused. “Isn’t that kinda like your thing? Being a vampire and all? Which, by the way, is completely insane. I knew vampires were real!”

“Jeremy! Shut up!” The blond girl states, still clinging to the black haired girl.

“Well, yes, I do drink blood, and while human blood is the healthiest and best option for me, it feels wrong. I was human once, too, and drinking from humans, especially without their permission, makes me feel horrible. I only drink animal blood,” Michael says, looking at the brunet, now known as Jeremy.

“So what kind of vampire are you if you don’t drink human blood?” Jeremy asks. Michael can tell that he feels much more at ease than his female friends, although he still seems a bit nervous as well, which is entirely valid. It’d be weird if he  _ wasn’t  _ nervous. 

“I’m a vegetarian vampire. I guess.” Michael shrugs. He’s never really put a label to it before, but he figures that it technically works for him.

“Did you just sort of quote  _ Twilight _ ?” Jeremy asks, cocking his head to one side.

“What the hell is  _ twilight _ ?” Michael asks back. He knows he isn’t completely caught up in what’s happening beyond the tree line. But he figures that Bob Marley, Queen, and The Who are still relevant. As well as Ferris Bueller and Back to the Future, right? It couldn’t have been that long since he last ventured out past the woods, could be?

“It’s a very horrible movie on vampires and werewolves. You seriously haven’t even heard of it before? Everyone knows about it!” 

“Uh, no. The last movie I saw was Back to the Future three.”

“Dude, that movie came out over 20 years ago.”

Michael blinks, shocked. It could not have been that long since he’d gone into the closest town. “So, is Bob Marley not relevant anymore?”

“You really need to update what you know about the world.” Jeremy laughs. Michael blushes at the laugh, this Jeremy guy is really cute.

“Well, why don’t you update me on all the most recent, um, trends, then?” Michael asks, letting a small smile settle on his lips.

Jeremy glances at the two girls beside him, who both seem to have relaxed a bit, but are still pressed against one another.

“Yeah, alright. I guess I’ll start with video games then.”

“I know about video games, I have an Atari 5200,” Michael says proudly.

“Oh man, that thing is so old! That came out long before I was even born,” Jeremy says, laughing. “There’s so much more now. Like the Xbox, and the PS4, and the Nintendo Switch. Dude, you are missing out severely.”

“Well I am kinda living in the middle of the woods, drinking animal blood with my mothers,” Michael says blankly. 

“Well, I guess that kinda is a valid reason. But man, video games are amazing!”  
“Please don’t let  Jeremy ramble on about video games too long, he gets really over excited and I don’t want him to wake up your parents.” The blond squeaks.

“Calm down Brooke, I won’t be that loud.”

“Even if he was, my parents sleep like the dead.” Michael glances at Jeremy, who has a slight smile on his face. “What?” He asks.

“You said your parents sleep like the dead. They’re vampires, aren’t they technically dead?”

“Well, living dead, really,” Michael says, smiling back at Jeremy.  “Now, tell me about these new video games, would ya?”

Michael’s grin grows wider once he sees Jeremy’s eyes light up.

For the next two hours, Jeremy talks about the best video games, in his opinion, with Brooke and Christine, who chime in occasionally. Michael learns that Brooke and Christine are dating, and because Jeremy and Christine have been friends since kindergarten, the three of them constantly hang out together.

Eventually, Michael begins to grow tired, and he can tell the other three are too. Especially since Brooke is already sleeping with her head leaning against Christine’s shoulder for support.

“I should probably get going, but I’ll come back when my parents are either sleeping or out of the house, okay?”

Jeremy smiles softly, “you better.”

Michael gives Jeremy one more small smile, nods at Christine, and finally gets up to make his way all the way upstairs and to his room.

The following morning, Michael wakes up much later than usual. He makes his way downstairs just before noon and walks into the kitchen just as his parents are coming up from the basement.

“Oh!” Michael’s Nanay says, wiping what Michael assumes is blood from her mouth. “You’re up late today, Mikey. Stay up late listening to your music again?”

Not wanting his moms to know that he befriended their blood bags, he just nods. 

“Alright, well, there’s a rabbit in the fridge, but the teens in the basement are still up for grabs. Neither of us touched the little blond girl. I had a bit of the boy, your mom had some of the Asian girl. Oh, it was delightful, wasn’t it honey?” Rosamie looks at her wife, a spark in her eyes. 

“Very much, the girl almost instantly slumped against me when I sank my fangs into her wrist. Her little girlfriend tried desperately to shove me off, but obviously, she wasn’t strong enough. I’ll try a bit of her tomorrow, she smelled really sweet. Probably the best out of all of them,” Jenny states matter of factly, smiling softly. Michael shuddered at the thought of his parents  _ enjoying  _ the fact that they were torturing these kids.

“Oh, no, the one you were drinking from smelled the best in my opinion. I’m going to try her out tomorrow, give the boy a rest, eh?” Michael watches in disgust as his parents giggle about their  _ meals.  _

Honestly, in Michael’s opinion, Jeremy smelled the best. Of course, he’d never actually drink from him, but if he had to choose a human to drink from, it’d be Jeremy. His blood smelled overly amazing to Michael. It was like a mix of freshly baked cookies with a hint of frosting as well. Michael also thought that Christine and Brooke smelled good too. Christine was like a medium rare steak, and Brooke had the smell of fresh bread, but neither compared to Jeremy in Michael’s opinion.

Shaking those thoughts from his head, Michael makes his way to the fridge and pulls out the large rabbit for his breakfast. His mothers had caught it last night, and left it for him to drink from for dinner. But because he was so frustrated with his parents, he went out and caught his own food instead.

Michael sniffed the rabbit. Although he preferred fresh and warm blood, cold blood was fairly good as well. Michael felt his fangs slip out, and he let them sink through thick fur and into the rabbit’s skin. The rabbit wasn’t completely filled with all of its blood, as it had been dead for a few hours. However, it was just enough for Michael’s breakfast. He’ll just make sure to eat a deer for dinner that night.

“Michael, your mom and I are heading out, okay? It’s our anniversary, we’ll be out late,” Rosamie calls from the front room of the house.

Michael detaches his fangs from the rabbit and calls back, “Okay, have fun.” And with that, Michael hears the shutting of the front door, signaling that his mothers had left the house. He stands in the kitchen for a few more minutes, making sure that his parents won’t be coming back for something. Once he’s sure that they’re gone, he walks over to the fridge, opens it, grabs as much of the normal food he can carry, slams the door shut, and makes his way to the basement. 

When Michael pushes the door open and enters the back room in the basement, he finds Jeremy slumped against the floor, sleeping. Christine was awake, stroking Brooke’s hair, who had her head in Christine’s lap as she was also asleep. Christine, still stroking Brooke’s hair, looks up at Michael with fear in her eyes, which fades when she notices who it is.

“Um, I brought you guys some food. I just took some things out of the fridge, so uh, yeah.”

“Why do you have actual food in your fridge? Don’t you drink blood?” Christine questions.

“Well, yeah. Technically all a vampire needs to survive is blood, but that doesn’t mean we can’t like the taste of actual food too.” Michael smiles, sitting down across from Christine. “Here, I grabbed a bag of apples, the milk jug, a loaf of bread, and half of a pizza. We don’t have much, but I can go out and buy some more later.”

“Thank you, Michael,” Christine says with a smile, taking the bag of apples from him.

“Oh, we should probably wake them up, since my moms drank from them today, they’ll need to eat to regain their energy.”

Christine winces a bit at that statement, but nods and shakes the girl in her lap awake. “Brooke, babe, wake up.”

“Mmmm,” Brooke mumbles.

“Michael brought us some food, you have to eat.”

At that, Brooke slowly blinks her eyes open and fumbles into a sitting position. “Mm, what is there?” She asks, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“Here, eat this first,” Christine tells her, giving Brooke a ripe red apple. Brooke takes it, yawning as she says, “thanks.”

Christine smiles, then shifts a bit to face Jeremy. “Jer, wake up, Michael brought food.”

“‘M tired,” Jeremy complains, shaking Christine’s hand from his shoulder.

Christine sighs, shaking her head. “Jeremy, you just got drained of some of your blood, you need to eat to regain your health.”

“Laaaatttteeeerrrr!” Jeremy whines, curling into a tight ball.

Christine laughs, “Michael brought pizza.”

“Okay, fine, I’m up!” Jeremy states, pushing himself into a sitting position. “I want pizza.”

Michael chuckles, finding Jeremy even cuter. “Here you go!” Michael lifts the top of the pizza box up, revealing the half-eaten meat lovers pizza inside.

“Umm, I can’t eat that,” Jeremy says, looking at the pizza with a sad gleam in his eye.

Michael tilts his head to the side. “Why?” He asks, confused. A moment ago he’d been very excited at the mention of pizza. Why push it away now?

“I’m Jewish, the pizza isn’t kosher. The meat is touching the cheese. Even if we took the meat off, I still can’t eat it.”

“Oh,” Michael says, deflated. “Umm, then I guess I’ll make sure it’s a plain cheese pizza next time, okay?”

Jeremy grins up at Michael. “Thank you.”

Christine reaches forward, taking the bread from Michael. “Here Jer, eat this. I’ll take the pizza, Michael.” Jeremy and Michael nod at the same time. Jeremy takes the bread from Christine, as Michael hands her the pizza box.

“My moms won’t be home for the rest of the day, so you don’t need to worry about them coming downstairs, just so you know,” Michael says awkwardly, rubbing the nape of his neck. How are you supposed to hold a conversation with your parents’ blood bags? 

“Alright,” Jeremy starts, swallowing a chunk of the bread. “Does that mean you’re gonna stay down here then?”

“If that’s alright with you.”

Jeremy glances at the two girls beside him. Brooke shrugs, nodding her head, with a small trail of juice from the apple running down her chin. 

“Fine with me,” Christine says.

“Alright, then I’ll stay.” Michael smiles at the three teenagers in front of him. He wishes he could help them escape, he’s just scared of what his parents would do when they found out.

“Good, cause if I remember anything from last night, it’s the fact that you really need to catch up on modern day culture,” Jeremy states. “Let’s start with the basics, last night we did video games, today we’re going to do movies.”

“Then musicals!” Christine pipes up.

Brooke and Jeremy laugh, still munching on their food. 

So, Michael stayed down in the basement, listening to the three teenagers talk enthusiastically about modern-day movies; the actors in the films, the directors, the special effects, the music, their favorite scenes, everything they could possibly think of, they talked about. 

Michael could hardly believe the amount of stuff he had missed out on. ‘ _ The Avengers’  _ sounded amazing, and so did the new ‘ _ Star Wars’  _ films. Michael remembers seeing the first six films when they originally came out. He hopes the new ones are just as good as the original trilogy.

“God, I wish I could show you ‘ _ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,’  _ the second movie is coming out soon, and we were-” Jeremy suddenly stops talking, his eyes swiftly moving from Michael’s face, sparkling with excitement, to staring into the ground, suddenly filled with longing.

“What? What’s wrong Jeremy?” Michael asks concerned. Jeremy had been so excited just seconds ago, and now Michael doesn’t think he could look any sadder.

“Well, it’s just, the three of us, and a few others, we're gonna go to the midnight premiere of ‘ _ The Crimes if Grindelwald,’  _ but, I guess that won’t happen now. I mean, your moms definitely aren’t going to be letting us go, so, we won’t be seeing the film.”

Michael frowns, looking from Jeremy to the two girls. Christine and Brooke both seem extremely upset as well. And honestly, Michael can’t blame them. They’re literally vampire food, being kept in a dark basement, just waiting for the next time Michael’s moms will drink from them. For God’s sake! It’s inhumane and Michael hates it.

“Well, maybe by then I’ll have convinced my parents to let you go. I honestly hate that they’re keeping you down here like this. It’s horrible and should have never even been a thought in their brains. I promise I’ll do everything I can so that you’ll be out of here by the time of the movie. When is it?” Michael asks, really hoping that what he is saying will actually happen.

“The release date is November 16th, but we were planning on seeing the midnight release on the 15th,” Christine informs Michael, leaning back against the stone basement wall.

“Alright, so that’s in three months, right? I can do that. I promise you that you  _ will  _ see this movie,” Michael says, using all of the confidence that he can. The last thing he wants to do is disappoint them.

“Thank you, Michael.” Jeremy smiles up at the vampire, placing his hand on his knee. Michael blushes, or at least he would blush if he wasn’t a vampire. 

For the next couple of hours, the four of them continue to talk, trying to get their minds off of everything they had just discussed. Eventually, Brooke and Christine had fallen asleep against one another, leaving just Jeremy and Michael talking to one another.

“Michael? How exactly did you become a vampire? You’ve mentioned that you were once human- so you obviously weren’t born this way. What happened?” Jeremy asks, genuinely curious as to how Michael got into this situation.

Michael sighs, bringing a hand up to rub at his face. “Well, it was a really long time ago, but luckily for you, vampires have an amazing memory,” Michael says, smiling sadly. “It was 1867 when my parents and I were bitten by some local vampires.” From there, Michael lunches into the story of how he and his parents were attacked on a night out. He explained how he had woke up in an unfamiliar bed within an unfamiliar room. He described how he felt drowsy and confused upon waking up in the new room. He continued on with how he made his way downstairs to find his moms sitting at the kitchen table with three other people, who Michael had never seen before. 

“So then, they offered me a drink saying that they expected me to be hungry. When I had asked what it was they told me it was blood as that’s what’s best for a vampire to drink. When I stared at them in shock and horror, they continued on to explain how four other vampires in their clan had been murdered, and they felt unsafe with it just being the three of them. So, they went into town, found me and my mothers, and decided that we would be a good choice to join their clan.”

“So, where are they now?” Jeremy asks, knowing full well that it was just Michael and his moms here.

“They found a cure for vampires or well Jackson did, and they all changed back. They had been vampires for hundreds of years. They were changed during the Renaissance in Italy, then came over after the American revolution. They wanted to experience being human again. That was about thirty years ago, they should be in their fifties by now.”

“If they had a cure, why did you and your moms not take it?”

“I wanted to, I really did, but my moms didn’t. I just didn’t think I could go out into the world without them, sure I was friends with Jackson, Julia, and Hannah, but I didn’t feel a strong enough connection where I could go with them and leave my moms. Although, sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I had taken the cure.”

“I think that should be your choice, don’t let your moms hold you back from the life you want to have.” Jeremy moves his hand to Michael’s shoulder, staring into the vampire’s eyes with such an intense feeling, Michael had to force himself not to look away.

Michael grins; “Maybe after I help you escape. I’d have a reason after that.” Michael takes it as a victory when he sees Jeremy’s face go bright red.

For the next several weeks, Michael spends almost all of his time either in his room or in the basement with Jeremy, Brooke, and Christine. His moms have yet to find out about him befriending their food. Michael has also started to go out into to town a bit more often, finding the food that the three like, and occasionally, buying a few little gifts for them as well. Michael has also been planning their escape. His parents always go out to celebrate his Nanay’s birthday, which will be November tenth. 

By the time it’s October first, Michael has all of the big details worked out, and now he just needs to talk to the other three to fix all of the little details. He wants everything to work out, if any of the three teenagers get hurt, Michael will feel as if it’s all his fault. He can’t have any of them getting hurt, especially Jeremy. Michael never thought that he would feel the way he does about Jeremy, about anyone, ever. He never even thought he’d get the chance. 

Which reminds Michael that he also needs to talk to Jeremy about this as well. Michael knows that no matter what Jeremy’s response is, it won’t change the fact that Michael wants to help them escape. However, he also knows that he might have to find somewhere else to live after they leave. Jeremy had talked to Michael about how if they did escape, and the vampire decided to take the cure and turn back into a human, he could stay with him and his dad. Michael had been ecstatic about that, knowing that Jeremy at least cared for him in some way. But, if Jeremy only saw him as a friend, Michael doesn’t think he’d be able to live under the same roof as the other boy. It would just be too awkward and frustrating for both of them. 

The next day, once his moms had left to go hunting for food for Michael, he heads down to the basement, taking with him a basket of fruit, a loaf of bread, and a pot of soup. 

He opens the door to find Brooke and Christine leaning up against Jeremy, which is an obvious tell that the girls had their blood drained recently.

At the sound of the door opening, Jeremy glances up, smiling once he sees that it’s Michael coming into the room instead of his parents.

“I have fruit, bread, and soup.” Michael sits down, pushing the food towards the three teenagers in front of him.

“Thanks, Mikey,” Jeremy says, pulling the large basket of fruit towards him. He then turns toward Christine and gently shakes her. “Chris, Michael brought us some food.” Christine blinks her eyes open at that, rolling her head, stretching out her neck. Next, Jeremy turns to Brooke. “Hey, Brooke, Michael brought us some food, time to eat.” Brooke yawns, stretching her arms out in front of her.

As the girls begin to eat the fruit and soup, Jeremy munching on the bread, Michael begins to explain his escape plan.

“We’re leaving in two weeks,” Michael says, causing the other's eyes to widen.

“Really?” Christine asks around a mouth full of soup.

Michael grins, “yup, I’ve been planning this for weeks, I just wanted it to be perfect before I shared this all with you. Which, I believe it finally is.”

“Get on with it Mikey! How are we gonna be leaving this place? You are coming, right? Because I understand it’s insanely hard to leave your parents, and the only world you’ve known since you were turned,” Jeremy says, keeping his eyes locked with Michael’s.

“Of course I’m coming with. I hate being a vampire. Yes, I’ll miss my mothers, but I won’t miss this life. Not one bit. I promise.” Michael takes hold of Jeremy’s hands, smiling softly at him.

“So, how are we getting out?” Brooke asks after a moment, making Michael drop Jeremy’s hand. It’s times like these that he’s glad he can’t blush.

“Alrighty kiddos, lean back and get comfortable. Are grand escape has a lot of explaining to do.”

An hour later, the four have finally finished discussing their escape. Obviously, it didn’t take Michael a whole hour to explain how they’d be leaving. However, Brooke, Jeremy, and Christine all had plenty of suggestions and questions about Michael’s plan. So, by the time they’ve finished looking over everything, all four of them are tired but extremely happy with their plan. They’re so tired in fact, that within the next ten minutes all four of them are slumped against one another in one big pile of limbs, fast asleep.

Of course, this wouldn’t be such a big deal if Michael had simply woken up after about an hour of sleep. Which, is exactly what he did not do. Soon, an hour passed, and then two hours, and then three, and that’s when Michael’s parents came home, stomachs empty and ready for some blood to fill them up.

Jenny and Rosamie make their way down to the basement, chattering away about their day together. After they had gone hunting, they had made their way into town to look through the shops. They also caught a movie together, which they didn’t pay that much attention to They can’t even remember what the movie was called.

“Okay, So we’ve drunk from the boy two days in a row now, and I had the little blond one this morning. I’ll take the cute Asian girl, and you can have the pretty blond one.” Rosamie says as they reach the bottom of the stairs. 

“Sounds good to me,” Jenny responds, reaching out to open the door to the back room. She turns the knob, pushing open the door, and stares in shock, unmoving, at the sight in front of her.

“Jen? What’s wrong?” Rosamie asks, stepping forward to see what her wife appeared to be gapping at. When she looks into the room, her eyes widen, and her hands move to cover her mouth. 

Shaking herself from the shock of seeing her son sleeping with their food, Jenny slams the door shut, abruptly waking up all four of the sleeping teenagers.

“Michael! What the hell are you doing down here?” Jenny screeches as her son rubs at his eyes.

Suddenly, Michael registers what’s going on, and his eyes widen as he jumps to his feet. “Mom, Nanay.” Michael stops, not sure what to say now.

Rosamie glares at her son, “Go upstairs,  _ now,” _ She seethes, not taking her eyes off of Michael.

“But Nanay I-”

“NOW MICHAEL!” She screams, pointing her finger behind her, towards the stairs.

“No,” Michael states, crossing his arms at his mothers.

“No?” Jenny asks, arching an eyebrow.

“That’s what I said, isn’t it?” Michael challenges. At this point, Brooke, Christine, and Jeremy are all cowering behind Michael. 

“And why, pray tell, won’t you go upstairs?” Jenny asks, grinding her teeth as she speaks.

“Because, I know what you’re down here to do, and I won’t let you.”

“Oh please, Michael! You’re acting as if you care about these blood bags!” Rosamie exclaims, waving her hand at the kidnapped teens.

“And? What’s wrong if I do care for them?”

“What’s wrong?” Jenny asks, surprised, “What’s wrong is that you can’t get  _ attached  _ to your food!”

“They’re not food!” Michael shouts. “They’re human beings, and you should have never chained them up down here in the first place! It’s wrong!”

“Michael. We’re vampires, we  _ drink blood for survival.  _ Human blood is the healthiest. We told you already that we can’t just survive on animal blood our whole lives!” Jenny cries.

“I am!”

“And it’s because of that fact that it won’t be hard to get you out of here,” Rosamie sighs.

“What do you-” Michael starts but is cut off when his parents are suddenly grabbing him. He feels something hit the back of his head, he can hear shrieks and cries from Brooke, Christine, and Jeremy- and then the world goes black.

\--------

Michael slowly blinks open his eyes.  _ Damn, why does my head hurt so fucking much,  _ Michael thinks, moving his hand to rub at the back of his head, which only makes it hurt more. He quickly removes his hand from his head, moving to sit up instead.  _ What the hell happened? Last I remember I was downstairs, with- Oh shit. No no no no!  _ Michael jumps to his feet moving towards his shut bedroom door. He goes to turn the handle only to find it locked. Michael rolls his eyes, his moms know full well that a locked door can’t stop a vampire. Michael gathers his strength, still a little woozy from the blow to his head, and rips the handle clean off of the door. He pushes the door open and runs all the way down the stairs, where he can hear muffled cries coming from the back room. Which only makes him go faster.

Michael slams his shoulder against the door, knocking it off of its hinges. The sight that greets him, is a gruesome one. Brooke is cowering in the corner, her hands tied behind her back and a gag in her mouth. Tears were streaming down her dirt-stained face. Christine, who is also tied and gagged, is being held close to Jenny’s chest as she slowly drinks blood from her neck. Christine’s crying as well, trying to wiggle out of the vampire's grasp. Jeremy, however, is the worst. Rosamie is drinking from his wrist. He’s slumped unconscious against her, his eyes half open and glassy. Michael’s blood boils at the sight, and a surge of pure anger rushes through him. He leaps at Rosamie, attempting to rip her from Jeremy’s grasp. He’s kicked away before he can grab her.

“What the hell are you trying to do! If you don’t stop, you’re going to kill him!” He yells at her. At the noise, Jenny retracts her fangs from Christine’s neck, and looks up at her son and wife, licking the blood that was slowly dripping down her chin away with her tongue. 

“ _ Exactly,”  _ Rosamie seethes back. “You’ve grown too close to these  _ humans,  _ especially this one,” She waves vaguely towards Jeremy, “Your mother and I decided to fix that.”

“You will  _ never  _ touch them again!” Michael spits out, grinding his teeth together.

“And exactly how do you plan on stopping us?” Jenny asks with a laugh.

Michael glares, glancing around the room, trying to find something to help him. His gaze lands on a broken chair leg right by Rosamie, and he grins. “Oh, you’ll see.”

As Michael lunges for the makeshift stake, he doesn’t think about the fact that he’s about to kill his parents, because they aren’t his parents, at least, not anymore. Not since they decided to kidnap and feed on three teenagers. They’ve turned into monsters, and Michael can’t find it within himself to care any longer.

Michael feels his hand wrap around the chair leg, and he whips around stabbing Rosamie and embedding the stake into Rosmaie’s chest, piercing her heart. Michael watches as her eyes grow wide right before she slumps to the ground, unmoving.

Michael hears a snarling noise from behind him, and he spins around quick enough to see Jenny rushing towards him, anger flaring in her eyes. Which, Michael realizes, is her mistake. If anger is the only thing fueling her, he has the upper hand. She doesn’t have a plan on what to do, but Michael does. He’s had a plan for weeks now. Michael easily side steps Jenny, letting her crash into the wall behind him. Then, as she rushes towards him again, fangs bared, Michael reaches out for her, knocking her to the ground - Which shocks her just long enough for him to stab the stake into her chest, right over her heart. She goes still as she dies.

Michael leans back onto his heels, rubbing his face with the palms of his hands He looks at the two dead vampires laying on the floor. While his parents officially died today, they really died years ago, when they were turned and left humanity behind them forever. Michael knows that his parents being gone from this world benefits everyone, and now he will be able to experience the life that he’s always wanted to have. The life he’s always deserved to have.

Michael slowly gets up off the ground and makes his way over to Brooke. He removes the gag from her mouth, and as soon as he’s untied her hands and feet, she lunges at him, pulling him into a tight hug that probably would have knocked the breath out of him if he wasn’t a vampire.

“Thank you,” She whispers. Michael can feel the tears drip down on to the back of his neck. He ignores it and hugs her tighter. Soon enough, the two of them pull apart, looking at Christine and Jeremy, both laying on the floor. 

“I’ll help Chrissy, you get Jeremy,” Brooke instructs, moving over to untie her girlfriend. 

Michael makes his way over to Jeremy, and unties him and takes the gag from his mouth. He then gathers Jeremy in his arms, quickly feeling his wrist for a pulse. Michael sighs in relief when he finds it, even though it is incredibly weak.

“Come on, you three need rest,” Michael says, looking at Brooke and Christine. The two girls nod and clamber into a standing position, leaning against one another. Michael then leads them upstairs, Jeremy still unconscious in his arms.

The four of them end up in Michael’s room, with Jeremy laying down on his bed and Christine and Brooke curled together on the large bean bag pushed in the corner. Christine is already asleep, with her head on Brooke’s shoulder. Brooke is leaning back, slowly carding her fingers through her girlfriend’s hair.

“Jeremy will be okay, right?” Brooke asks, her eyes wide as she peers up at Michael.

Michael smiles softly. “Yeah, he’ll be fine. He still has a pulse, and he wasn’t completely drained. I’d say that he will be as good as new, or close to that, tomorrow morning. Then we’re all getting out of here. I promise.”

“At least we have tonight to rest. Sleeping on a stone floor for weeks on end is not exactly ideal. Especially when you’re afraid of someone coming downstairs to suck your blood.”

Michael cringes at that, “I’m sorry, I know I should have-”

“Stop,” Brooke states firmly, “this isn’t your fault. We all know everything you did to help us, and I’m sure that we are all extremely grateful for it. Especially Jeremy.” Brooke grins, looking over at the lanky boy sprawled out on Michael’s bed.

Michael feels his smile return to his face. “Thank you, Brooke.” Then, after a brief pause, he speaks up again. “You should really get some rest. It’ll be a long walk to the hospital tomorrow. You can take showers before you leave though if you’d like.”

“That would be amazing, thank you, Michael.” And with one last smile pointed towards Michael, Brooke settles down on the bean bag, closing her eyes to let sleep take over her. Michael follows soon after, curling up at the foot of his bed.

\------------

The next morning, Michael is, unsurprisingly, the first of the four to wake up. Slowly, Michael pushes himself into a sitting position, stretching his arms and arching his back. He carefully makes his way out of his room and down the stairs to the kitchen in order to get some breakfast for everyone upstairs. Once he’s gathered together a box of cereal, some grapes and a bag of mini bagels, he heads downstairs to bring his parents outside and bury them. It takes him several hours to haul the two dead bodies outside, dig their grave, and cover their bodies up with the dug up earth. 

After he’s finished, he stares at the unmarked grave, unsurprised that no tears are falling even if he is a little sad at his parents' death. They did raise him after all. 

Soon, Michael makes his way back inside. He grabs the food he left on the counter and brings it upstairs for when any of the other three wake up. When he reaches his room, he finds Brooke and Christine sitting up on the bean bag talking in hushed tones together. 

“Oh, you’re up, I have breakfast. It’s not much, but I grabbed what we had.” Michael walks closer to the two girls, handing over the food he had brought up with him.

“Thanks, Michael,” Christine whispers, reaching for a bagel inside of the bag.

“You two can take a shower if you want, it’s right across the hall from here, just so you know.”

Christine and Brooke nod in response, stuffing their mouths with as much food as they can manage.

After the two girls seemed to have their fill, they both take their showers. After an hour, Jeremy starts to stir.

“HHHhhnngg,” Jeremy groans, blinking his eyes open.

“Jeremy?” Michael asks, quickly moving to sit down next to him.

“Shit,” Jeremy mutters, instead of an answer. “Ow, goddamnit, my head fucking hurts.”

“Yeah, you just need some food in you. Here, I have a bagel for you.” Michael reaches across the bed, grabbing the abandoned bag of bagels, taking one out and giving it to Jeremy.

“Thanks, Mikey,” Jeremy says, gratefully taking the bagel from Michael, making Michael’s face, if it could, heat up and turn his head away slightly.

“Um, yeah, no-no problem!” After a brief pause, Michael clears his throat and starts talking again. “Um, once you’re feeling better, you can go and take a shower. The girls are in there right now blow drying their-”

Michael is suddenly cut off when the door to his room opens up and in walks Christine and Brooke, both freshly washed with dry hair. As soon as their eyes land on Jeremy, their faces break out with huge grins as they rush forward to hug their friend. 

“God Jeremy we were so worried about you!” Brooke gushes, her voice slightly muffled as her head is shoved into the crook of his neck.

“We were so scared that you wouldn’t make it! Michael assured us that you would be fine by today, just a bit off balance, but we were still terrified that something might change!” Christine sobs, hugging Jeremy tighter.

“Can’t. Breathe.” Jeremy gasps out, making the two girls let go laughing a bit.

“Sorry,” They say simultaneously.

Jeremy grins. “It’s fine, I was nervous too, didn’t know if I’d make it. Wait,” Jeremy begins to frown, “what am I doing here? Michael, where are your parents? Last I remember, your moms knocked you out and then they gagged us and then your mom started drinking from me and I blacked out after a while.”

Michael rubs the back of his neck, grinning sheepishly. “Well, when I woke back up here, in my room, I got really nervous. I didn’t know what my parents would do to you now that they knew how close we had become. So, I went downstairs as fast as I could, knocking the doors off their hinges. I managed to distract them long enough to grab a broken chair leg, and I staked them.”

Jeremy’s eyes widened. “You staked your own parents?”

Michael scowls, “The moment they kidnapped you three, was the moment that they stopped being my parents.”

“Still,” Jeremy starts, “thank you, I can’t tell you how much you mean to me, Michael.”

Michael smiles at Jeremy and hesitantly pulls him into a hug. Once he feels Jeremy hug him back even tighter, Michael relaxes, dropping his head onto Jeremy’s shoulder.

“As much as I love this cute little moment between you too, Jeremy really stinks and should probably go take a shower,” Christine says, breaking up the hug.

Jeremy slowly pulls away from Michael, a smile still sitting on his face. “I guess I probably should take a shower,” he chuckles. 

“It’s just across the hall, towels are under the sink,” Michael says, stepping away from Jeremy.

Jeremy nods, and makes his way across the hall, shutting the door to the bathroom quietly behind him.

\---------------------

Around an hour later, once everyone is clean, dressed in Michael’s clothes, and has eaten enough to fill their stomachs completely, Michael suggests that they head towards the hospital in town.

“No,” Christine says, “we would have to explain what happened to us, and since most people don’t think that vampires are actually  _ real,  _ it wouldn’t really turn out well. We need to go to our parents, and talk to them.”

“Chrissy is right, if we tell people what happened to us, they’re most definitely going to send us to some rehab place,” Brooke says, agreeing with Christine.

“I could show them that vampires are real,” Michael states, “I mean, I am one after all.”

“Not for much longer though,” Jeremy reminds the vampire. “Besides, they would probably take you away and like, experiment on you. Don’t you just want to get it over with?” 

“But I also want to make sure you’re safe!”

“Well, if I remember correctly, your moms were able to determine how healthy we were when they drank some of our blood, why don’t you just do that?” Brooke suggests.

“I am  _ not  _ drinking blood from any of you!”

“It’s better than going to the hospital! And besides, it’s just a small sip, your moms drank half of our blood, you’re taking a tiny fraction of that, it’s fine. We're used to it,” Jeremy reminds him.

“I hate that you're used to it.”

“Which is why we trust you,” Christine says gently, smiling up at Michael.

“Fine, a small sip!”

“Great, I’ll go first,” Brooke says, stepping forward and shoving her wrist into Michael’s face. “I know the neck is better and all, but I hate when people get near my neck,” Brooke says, shivering a bit.

“Well, everyone except Christine,” Jeremy giggles, earning a glare from the two girls.

“Whatever’s best for you,” Michael says, taking her wrist and bringing it up to his mouth. He swiftly sinks his teeth into the flesh above her wrist, hardly keeping his mouth on her wrist for even a second before he detaches his fangs from her wrist. He licks the excess blood from his mouth, closing his eyes to focus more on the taste.

“You’re good, although you definitely need more sleep. But I’m expecting that with all of you.”

Brooke smiles and goes to stand next to Jeremy as Christine walks in front of Michael. “My neck is insanely sore from your mom last night, so yeah.” Christine holds out her wrist for Michael to take. Michael goes through the same motions as he had with Brooke. He sinks his fangs into her wrist, taking a split second to take a tiny amount of blood from her, quickly removing his mouth from her wrist, closing his eyes as he takes it in.

“You’re getting a cold and you’re very tired. You haven’t been eating as much as Brooke, have you?” Michael asks, eying the petite girl in front of him.

Guiltily, Christine shakes her head. “I wanted to save enough for the others, and I was never that hungry.”

“Well, you better start eating more,” Michael says.

“Oh, I’ll make sure she does,” Brooke says, crossing her arms and glaring at her girlfriend.

“Alright Jeremy, come here.” Michael beckons Jeremy forward.

“You can drink from my neck. Your moms always drank from my wrists so they’re pretty bruised.”

“You sure?” Michael asks, getting a quick nod in response as Jeremy bares his neck for the slightly taller boy.

Michael nods to himself and slowly leans forward letting his fangs sink into Jeremy’s neck, right by his pulse line. A rush of flavor surrounds his taste buds. He hears Jeremy groan, more from pleasure than pain. Before Michael gets to caught up in it, Michael quickly pulls away from Jeremy, breathing heavily. His eyes fixate on the small portion of blood trickling down Jeremy’s neck, his tongue darts out to wipe the excess around his own mouth, and forces himself to close his eyes, concentrating on Jeremy’s health. 

“Um, you, you’re tired as well. A lot more than the girls though. You have a small fever, but it should be gone by tomorrow morning.” He opens his eyes again to find the girls staring wide-eyed at him and Jeremy, who seemed to be in some kind of daze. A moment passes and then Jeremy speaks up.

“Fuck, why the hell did that feel so fucking  _ good? _ ” Jeremy asks, turning to stare at Michael.

“I don’t know! You- that- I don’t know!” Michael stutters out. He pauses for a moment, suddenly remembering something Jackson had told him once. “Although, I might have an idea. But I dunno. It can’t really be it.”  
“Michael, I really would like to know why I actually liked you drinking my blood, but whenever your moms did it, it caused me immense pain! What the hell Michael!”

“Look, it could have something do with- um, what we mean to each other? Possibly?” Michael says, trying to look anywhere but at Jeremy.

“And what does that mean, exactly?”

Michael sighs. “Okay, look all I really know about this is that when Jackson changed Hannah, it was the same way for him. Originally he had drunk from her just to get food. He was going to drain her completely, but the way she tasted to him, and how they both reacted to the bite, quickly changed his mind. When he had his fill, he made sure that she drank some of his blood, and then she was a vampire too. The way we reacted could possibly mean that we were, technically, made for each other.” Michael looks down and away from Jeremy while explaining this.

“So, you’re saying that you and Jeremy are soulmates?” Christine asks, looking excited. Michael simply nods his response.

“That’s so cute!” Brooke shrieks.

“Oh thank God,” Jeremy says, grabbing Michael’s shirt and pulling him forward. “If we’re soulmates then I can do this,” he says, closing the distance and pushes his lips against Michael’s. 

Both of the boys can feel the other begin to smile into the kiss, enjoying every second of the moment, which is exactly what they’ve both been waiting for, for months.

“Well, I’m glad you two are finally together and all, but it’s cold and I’d like to see my family again, if you don’t mind,” Christine says, causing the two boys to pull away from one another, grins still firm on their faces.

“Let’s take you three home then,” Michael says, taking hold of Jeremy’s hand as he leads them out of the woods.

\------------------

Once the four of them reach the middle of town, they suddenly here screaming. The four of them turn to find four teenagers rushing towards them, screaming out their names. Well, not Michael’s name.

The tallest guy, who was wearing a red jacket, reaches them first, crowding Jeremy, Brooke, and Christine into a large bear hug.

“Holy shit you guys, where were you! You’ve been missing for three months! What the actual  _ fuck. _ ” 

“We’re glad to see you too Jakey,” Christine laughs, shoving her face into his chest. By then, the other three had reached them and were now also wrapped up in the hug, shouting question after question wondering where their friends had been and how they got back.

“Guys, we will explain it to you, just, can we maybe go inside? It’s kind of freezing!” Brooke says, laughing, overjoyed to see her friends once again.

“Yeah, yeah let’s go,” said the short guy with a red quiff.

“Oh,” Jeremy says, grinning, this is Michael. He’s the one who rescued us.”

Then, out of nowhere, Jake reaches over and pulls Michael into a hug. “Thank you,” He whispers.

Michael grins. 

Finally, once the eight teenagers have all made it to Jake’s house, as his parents were out of town, again, Jeremy, Christine, Brooke, and Michael begin to explain everything that had happened in the past three months. Michael filled in most of the gaps for when the other three had no way of seeing or hearing what had been going on upstairs, while the three of them explained what Michael’s parents had done and how they would be dead by now if Michael hadn’t been there to save them.

“Wait, hold on,” Red hair, who Michael now knows as Rich, says once the four had finished telling their tale. “You’re a vampire? What the fuck! Prove it.”

Michael looks at Jeremy, shrugs, turns back to Rich and bares his fangs, letting out a small hissing noise.

“Holy fuck shit! That’s so cool! Why the hell would you want to change back into a human?” Rich asks, clearly stunned.

“Well, for one I don’t exactly enjoy the fact that I rely on blood to survive. Another is that I’ve been alive for so fucking long, I just want a normal life now, ya know?”

“Alright, yeah, understandable,” Rich says, nodding along with what Michael had said.

“So, now that we know everything,” Jenna starts, “Shouldn’t you guys go home and see your parents? I mean, Evan hardly leaves his room anymore, Jere. The only person he even allows in there is Connor. And Dustin hardly sleeps. He comes to school every day in sweats, with his hair looking like a rats nest. None of us have been doing well either, but it your disappearance really killed your families.”

“Jenna’s right,” Michael says, “You guys should go home.”

And that’s exactly what they do. They go to Jeremy’s house, whose dad then promptly calls over Christine’s and Brooke’s family, and the four of them explain their story once more. All of the adults were completely shocked, and a little scared, when Michael showed them that he was a vampire, but they calmed down once he said that he knew of a cure.

Once they had finished their story, they all went home with their respective families, Mr. Heere allowing Michael to stay with them.

\-------------------

Two weeks later, Michael had finally gathered everything he would need for the cure. He and Jeremy mix together everything, blending it in the blender. Finally, Michael takes a sip, closing his eyes to wait for the effects to take place.

After a minute of Jeremy staring expectantly at his boyfriend, Michael suddenly doubles over, gasping for breath and clutching his chest.

“Michael!” Jeremy lunges forward, placing his hands on Michael’s shoulders to bring him into a proper standing position. “Are you okay? Do you need anything? Is anything wrong?” He asks frantically.

Michael shakes his head. “No, no everything is great! Jere, I can breathe! My heart is pounding in my chest so much that it hurts and I  _ love it.  _ My heart is actually moving again. Jeremy! Feel my heart!” Giddily, Michael moves Jeremy’s hand to place it over his heart. “I’m alive again!” Michael is smiling so hard, that his face begins to hurt. But he doesn’t care, he really doesn’t  _ care.  _ All that matters is that he’s alive, and breathing, and  _ living. _

Jeremy grins, not moving his hand from the pounding of Michael’s heart. “So, there’s nothing you need right now?”

“I think that there’s a movie we’re supposed to catch with the gang. Isn’t there?” Michael asks, his excited grin turning into a sly one.

“I believe there is,” Jeremy agrees, taking his boyfriend’s hand in his own. And the whole way to the theater, all either of them can think about is how  _ warm  _ Michael is now, and neither of them can ever be happier. 

Well, except for their wedding day, now that’s a day to remember as well.

 


End file.
